Autonomous driving has been talked about for ideas, but until recently it was just a futuristic idea. Automotive brands like Ford and BMW are putting money behind self-driving to being the idea to consumers around the world. Automonous cars are capable navigating vehicles without the use of human drivers. “BMW, Ford, and Uber have all recently said they plan to have “fully autonomous” cars ready to drive themselves on the road in 2021. Ford says its fleet of vehicles will lack steering wheels and offer a robotic taxi service.” (Simonite, 2016).
Uber has been testing Ford Fusions in Pittsburgh within the past month. With testing Uber has offered customers in Pittsburgh to request self-driving cars. Uber chose Pittsburgh due to its challenging topography, various weather conditions and bridges (Dwoskin, 2016). As the technology to put self-driving vehicles on the road seems to be coming to fruition I want be forth many consumers like myself have, how efficient is this technology? How do we know self-driving cars will be safe? With humans behind the wheel there is the element of control even in unpredictable situations, but now consumer will be expected to put their trust in technology. Automotive companies have a lot of ground to cover to get consumer to buy in the self-driving concept.
According to driveless-future.com:
Self-driving cars are a rapidly evolving technology which only a few years ago was still considered science fiction. In such a dynamic context, quick intuitions can be very misleading and misconceptions about the technology, its impact, and the nature of the innovation process abound. In the following we address some of the most widely held misconceptions about autonomous vehicles:
Top misconceptions
- Driver assistance systems will evolve gradually into fully autonomous cars
- The first models of fully autonomous cars will be targeted to the consumer and will be available for purchase
- It will take decades until most of the vehicles on the road are capable of autonomous driving
- Self-driving cars are controlled by classical computer algorithms (if-then rules)
- Public demonstrations of self-driving cars provide an indication of their capabilities
- Self-driving cars need to make the right ethical judgements
- To convince us that they are safe, self-driving cars must drive hundreds of millions of miles
It will be up to the automotive industry to convenience consumers that autonomous driving is safe and not a wacky futuristic idea. Will you be sitting in the passenger seat while your car does the driving?
Simonite, T. (2016, Aug 23). Prepare to be underwhelmed by 2021’s autonomous cars. Technology Review. Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602210/prepare-to-be-underwhelmed-by-2021s-autonomous-cars/
Dwoskin, E. (2016, Sept 4). Inside Pittsburgh’s driver’s-seat move on Uber’s autonomous-car testing. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/inside-pittsburghs-drivers-seat-move-on-ubers-autonomous-car-testing/2016/09/02/c5d2462a-6fc7-11e6-9705-23e51a2f424d_story.html
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